MAINE MARKING EXPERIMENTS. 73 



call the very long-period fish, which remains in the sea for about 18 months before 

 they return to spawn for a second time.' 



Out of 10,572 scales examined by Hutton (1922) he found 883 which indicated that 

 those salmon had survived their first spawning period. The number and percentage of 

 those adopting the short, long, and very long periods respectively are stated as foUows: 



TABLE 7. 

 Percentage of Short, Lo7ig, and Very Loiig Period Fish. 



Short period 

 Long period 

 Very long period 



Per cent 



11.4 



85.6 



3.0 



The following survived to spawn a third time. 



Short period 51 or 35.7 per cent of 143 



Long period 23 or 32 per cent of 716 



Very long period 



He shows that of the 143 short-period fish seven or 4.9 per cent returned to spawn after 

 a short absence, and 44 or 30.8 per cent returned after a long absence. Of the 716 long- 

 period fish, 2 or 0.3 per cent returned as short-period fish again. The above figures show 

 that the largest proportion of the 883 salmon adopted the long period, as did those 

 discussed by Calderwood. 



Maine Marking Experiments. 



The only marking or tagging experiments of Atlantic salmon in the United States 

 were those of Atkins — from 1872 to 1880 — on Penobscot River fish, in connection with 

 United States hatchery operations near Bucksport, Maine. (Atkins 1885, p. 89-94.) 

 The records thus obtained however are too few to show much of the situation as pertains 

 to Penobscot salmon. Of those marked in 1872 none was recovered. In 1873, 391 fish 

 were later recovered. Because the aluminum plate tags used in the 1873 operations, 

 proved deficient in durable qualities the results obtained were not of marked value. Of 

 20 recovered in April and May of 1874, all had fallen away in flesh since November. 

 The males had faded in color; the hooks on their lower jaws were still present, but had 

 decreased in size. The females had regained their bright silvery color to a great extent. 

 In the ovaries were the 'germs' of the next Utter of eggs, but they were very small. No 

 food was found in the stomachs of either sex. From their condition it seemed to Atkins 

 that these fish could not have been to their feeding grounds during the winter. 



Says Atkins: 'In 1875 there were marked and released in tide water at Bucksport, 

 357 salmon. In the spring of 1876, a considerable number of these were taken in the river, 

 but without exception they were, as in 1874, all poor. In 1877 three specimens were 

 recovered, all in good condition and of larger size than when released. . . . The results 



